


Stand Up, Lean on Me

by RisuAlto



Series: Tai Lon's Story [8]
Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: BAMF Watcher, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Falling In Love, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury, Mature for Tai Lon's language, Seeker Slayer Survivor DLC, Tai Lon is 200 percent done with the gods at this point
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-12 17:17:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21479995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RisuAlto/pseuds/RisuAlto
Summary: Tai Lon couldn’t bring herself to care, though, because honestly?  Fuck this. Fuck that drake.  Fuck the Crucible.  Galawain could shove it, and frankly, so could Berath.  What good was Tai Lon as the Herald if they couldn’t be bothered to help her deal with Galawain’s utterly ridiculous, life threatening rituals?
Relationships: Aloth Corfiser/The Watcher
Series: Tai Lon's Story [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1548022
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Stand Up, Lean on Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rannadylin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rannadylin/gifts).

> This prompt was, "Celebratory hug."
> 
> Based on something that actually happened in which Tai Lon got stuck fighting a drake that still had like 50% HP all by herself and eventually managed to kill it, just barely, by using a skill that instantly KOs enemies below 25% health. She had 13/270 HP at the end of that fight.

Tai Lon could barely make out the roaring cheers of the crowd over the sound of her own blood pulsing in her ears. But it was still more than she could take in that moment, the final drop that shattered the tension keeping her standing. Like wine spilling over a too-full glass, Tai Lon felt all the adrenaline flood from her body, sending her crashing down to one knee before the massive drake corpse. Her stiletto was still lost somewhere in its flesh, but she couldn’t find the energy to search for it.

Her friends should be fine now, she thought. The match was over, so per the rules and magic of the Crucible, they should be starting to get up. 

The wounds on her own body should be starting to close, too, but Tai Lon couldn’t feel it happening. Her hand—the one without a weapon—was glued to her side with some mixture of her blood and the drake’s. Absently, she noted that the pressure should probably hurt. She was sure the drake’s tail had splintered (at least) a few ribs, but somehow, her mind was so far away that the pain couldn’t reach her. That was probably bad.

She couldn’t bring herself to care, though, because honestly? Fuck this. Fuck that drake. Fuck the Crucible. Galawain could shove it, and frankly, so could Berath. What good was Tai Lon as the Herald if they couldn’t be bothered to help her deal with Galawain’s utterly ridiculous, life threatening rituals?

(Never mind the fact that Tai Lon had expended every _single_ one of her abilities in that fight, including Berath’s. The _point_ was that she was the one barely alive while every one of her companions had been ripped apart or burnt within an inch of their lives in front of her, and all she got as a reward was some dumb statues telling her, “You did good.” Or something like that. She wasn’t listening.)

“—cher? Watcher, can ya hear me?”

Tai Lon breathed sharply in reply to Xoti’s voice, and her vision started to clear. She didn’t remember when it had started to black out, but the darkness was being burnt off by an aurora of blue healing magic. However, when she was able to focus again, Xoti’s face was not the one that greeted her.

It was Aloth, remnants of the restoration scroll still crumbling in his fingertips. His eyes were glowing with concern, almost brighter in the moment than the spell he’d just cast, and his free hand was gently resting over Tai Lon’s on her injured side. 

Something else was clouding Aloth’s face, too, but Tai Lon didn’t have a chance to process it before she felt a sharp tug behind her. “There we go,” Xoti said, beaming down at her as she finished closing up Tai Lon’s pack. “Glad ya keep the healin’ scrolls somewhere easy to grab, Watcher.”

Tai Lon chose not to point out that Xoti was usually on the team of people who get impatient when she organizes her bags, and instead just smiled. “Yeah,” she said, then noticed Edér was also standing nearby, holding out a hand. She grabbed on and let Edér pull her to her feet. “Thanks, both of you. And you, too, Aloth—Aloth?”

Aloth was still on the ground, watching Tai Lon with that same strange expression. But, now, Tai Lon recognized it. It was disbelief, admiration, and humility braided together and woven through his eyes, his lips, the tilt of his brows. A part of Tai Lon, too, was tangled up by the feeling, maybe because she had only seen Aloth make that face twice before. The first was years ago, at Adelwan Bridge as they fled the fires in Defiance Bay, when Tai Lon had offered him friendship in the face of his worst lies to her. The second was when they had met again on Maje Island and he had realized she survived the fall of Caed Nua.

“Watcher,” Aloth was saying, getting up without even brushing the Crucible’s dirt from his robes. He shook his head and started again, still sounding dazed. “Tai Lon. You defeated a drake. _By yourself._”

Tai Lon looked around to see that the magic of the Crucible was already disintegrating the drake’s body, but indeed, the beast was massive, blood-soaked scales still gleaming in the sunlight. It was easily ten times Tai Lon’s own size. And it may not have registered during the fight, when all Tai Lon could think of was keeping herself and her friends on their feet. She hadn’t been all that successful. “Not really,” she said, stepping closer to Aloth. “I couldn’t have done it without you. I just got lucky there at the end, but most of—”

“Not one of us—not even Edér—managed to hold our own against it,” Aloth breathed, one hand fluttering near her shoulder like she was an open flame. “It was barely bloodied when we were all struck down, and yet,” he gestured around them, “here we are. Because _you_ killed a _drake_.”

Well. When he put it like that.

Tai Lon felt laughter bubbling in her chest, but when she released it, she was sure it was tinged with notes of hysteria. Her attention was caught by the remains of the beast with jaws large enough to hold at least two of her in its teeth at once. “I did,” she breathed. “Shit. I did that.”

The laughter surged up again, but this time it was genuine, sparkling with relief as Tai Lon couldn’t resist throwing her arms up around Aloth’s shoulders like he could somehow ground her into reality. Her whole body was warm, even without the fever of battle. They were all alive and relatively okay (even if Tai Lon was still bleeding), and she had _actually_ _killed a drake_.

Aloth shifted in her grasp as Tai Lon pressed her forehead into the curve of his neck, breathing slowly to calm herself. “You’re amazing,” he whispered, and finally, _finally_ let himself hold her properly, no longer hesitating like he wasn’t sure she _could_ be touched. His embrace was warm and snug across her back, holding her steady even as Tai Lon still felt like she was floating.

Absently, she hoped that someone had the presence of mind to go find the weapon she’d sunk into the drake’s neck with her killing blow. She certainly wasn’t moving any time soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Edér got her stiletto back. Don't worry.


End file.
